Song capital Kaifeng markets flourishing

1023

On the Bian Canal, the Song capital's long covered markets sold silk from Chengdu, porcelain from Jingdezhen, tea from Fujian, and incense from Southeast Asia. Cheap woodblock books circulated freely through the streets. The city's commercial vitality, sustained by paper money, had no parallel in the medieval world. Night markets stayed open past midnight, a commercial liberty unheard of in the rigidly curfewed Tang dynasty.